Haft thou beheld a fresher gentlewoman? HOR. 'A will make the man mad, to make a woman of him. KATH. Young budding virgin, fair, and fresh, and sweet, Whither away; or where is thy abode ?8 "Fair lovely maiden, young and affable, 66 Sweet Katharine, this lovely woman "Kath. Fair lovely lady, bright and chrystalline, "With sweet reflections of thy lovely face." POPE. An attentive reader will perceive in this speech feveral words which are employed in none of the legitimate plays of Shakfpeare. Such, I believe, are, fardonyx, hyacinth, eye-train'd, radiations, and especially unhabitable; our poet generally using inhabitable in its room, as in King Richard II: "Or any other ground inhabitable." These inftances may ferve as fome flight proofs, that the former piece was not the work of Shakspeare: but I have fince observed that Mr. Pope had changed inhabitable into unhabitable. STEEVENS. 7 to make a woman-] The old copy reads-the woman. Corrected by the editor of the second folio. MALONE. 8 where is thy abode ?] Inftead of where, the printer of the old copy inadvertently repeated whither. Corrected in the Happy the parents of fo fair a child; PET. Why, how now, Kate! I hope thou art not This is a man, old, wrinkled, faded, wither'd ; KATH. Pardon, old father, my mistaking eyes, green Now I perceive, thou art a reverend father; Pardon, I pray thee, for my mad mistaking. "Happy the parents of fo fair a child; Happier the man, whom favourable ftars Allot thee for his lovely bed-fellow !] This is borrowed from Golding's tranflation of Ovid's Metamorphofis, Book IV. edit. 1587, p. 56: right happie folke are they By whome thou camft into this world; right happie is (I fay) Thy mother and thy fifter too (if anie be :) good hap "That woman had that was thy nurfe, and gave thy mouth hir pap. "But far above all other far, more bliffe than these is fhee "Whome thou thy wife and bed-fellow, vouchsafest for to bee." I fhould add, however, that Ovid borrowed his ideas from the fixth Book of the Odyssey, 154, &c. 66 « Τρισμάκαρες μὲν σοί γε πατὴρ καὶ πότνια μήτηρ, σε Τρισμάκαρες δὲ κασίγνετοι· μαλα πέ &c. « Κεῖνος δ' αὖ περι κῆρι μακάρτατος ἔξοχον ἄλλων, σε Ος κέ σ' ἐέδνοισι βρίσας οἶκόνδ' ἀγάγηται." STEEVENS. That every thing I look on feemeth green :] Shakspeare's obfervations on the phænomena of nature are very accurate. When one has fat long in the funshine, the furrounding objects will often appear tinged with green. The reason is affigned by many of the writers on opticks. BLACKSTONE. PET. Do, good old grandfire; and, withal, make known Which way thou travelleft: if along with us, - VIN. Fair fir, and you my merry mistress,2That with your ftrange encounter much amaz'd me; My name is call'd-Vincentio; my dwelling-Pifa; And bound I am to Padua ; there to vifit A fon of mine, which long I have not seen. VIN. Lucentio, gentle fir. PET. Happily met; the happier for thy fon. Who will of thy arrival be full joyous. VIN. But is this true? or is it elfe your pleasure, Like pleasant travellers, to break a jest Upon the company you overtake? HOR. I do affure thee, father, fo it is. PET. Come, go along, and fee the truth hereof; For our firft merriment hath made thee jealous. [Exeunt PETRUCHIO, KATHARINA, and VINCENTIO. mistress,] is here used as a trifyllable. STEEVENS. HOR. Well, Petruchio, this hath put me in heart. Have to my widow; and if fhe be forward, Then haft thou taught Hortenfio to be untoward. [Exit. ACT V. SCENE I. Padua. Before Lucentio's Houfe. Enter on one fide BIONDELLO, LUCENTIO, and BIANCA; GREMIO walking on the other fide. BION. Softly and fwiftly, fir; for the priest is ready. Luc. I fly, Biondello: but they may chance to need thee at home, therefore leave us. BION. Nay, faith, I'll fee the church o' your back; and then come back to my mafter as foon as I can.3 [Exeunt LUCENTIO, BIANCA, and BIONDELLO. GRE. I marvel Cambio comes not all this while. 3 and then come back to my mafter as foon as I can.] The editions all agree in reading mistress; but what mistress was Biondello to come back to? he muft certainly mean-" Nay, faith, fir, I must see you in the church; and then for fear I fhould be wanted, I'll run back to wait on Tranio, who at prefent perfonates you, and whom therefore I at present acknowledge for my mafter." THEOBald. Probably an M was only written in the MS. See p. 54. The fame mistake has happened again in this fcene: "Didft thou never fee thy mistress' father, Vincentio?" The prefent emendation was made by Mr. Theobald, who obferves rightly, that by "mafter," Biondello means his pretended mafter, Tranio. MALONE. Enter PETRUCHIO, KATHARINA, VINCENTIO, and Attendants. PET. Sir, here's the door, this is Lucentio's house, My father's bears more toward the market-place; Thither muft I, and here I leave you, fir. VIN. You fhall not choose but drink before you go; I think, I fhall command your welcome here, And, by all likelihood, fome cheer is toward. [Knocks. GRE. They're busy within, you were best knock louder. Enter Pedant above, at a window. PED. What's he, that knocks as he would beat down the gate? VIN. Is fignior Lucentio within, fir? PED. He's within, fir, but not to be spoken withal. VIN. What if a man bring him a hundred pound or two, to make merry withal? PED. Keep your hundred pounds to yourself; he fhall need none, fo long as I live. PET. Nay, I told you, your fon was beloved in Padua. Do you hear, fir?to leave frivolous circumftances, I pray you, tell fignior Lucentio, that his father is come from Pifa, and is here at the door to speak with him. PED. Thou lieft; his father is come from Pifa,+ and here looking out at the window. from Pifa,] The reading of the old copies is from Padua, which is certainly wrong. The editors have made to Padua; but it should rather be from Pifa. Both parties agree |